Friday, May 28, 2010

Weighing In

Here is the problem and it is ongoing. I don't like the Weight Watchers meetings. No offense, but the shared recipes/foods/products are items I would not feed to my dog, seriously. I am not interested in a cake made with artificially sweetened soda. I am not interested in recipes culled from opening 5 or 6 cans. I am not using fat free cheese, fat free salad dressing, or for that matter fat free anything, unless it is fat free in its natural state. I am not seasoning styrofoam substitutes for popcorn with Molly McButter! I also do not buy "diet meals," whether Smart Ones, Lean Cuisine, or Healthy Choice. The ingredients in these foods read like a bomb! I know that Weight Watchers says that you can do this using real sugar, real butter, etc. but that is "expensive" in their points system. Then in the meetings there are all the suggestions for fake foods, and nutsy recipes that are quite frankly not only scary but nauseating. It is only pushing me away. So I am back to the drawing board because if I cannot benefit from the meetings, then why pay to go?

So who the hell am I to fly in the face of the tried and true methods that have led people to so much weight loss success because it is not pleasing to my palate? I am the one who has to find a way to conquer satisfying my palate and keeping most of the things I like to eat off my fat ass. This is for life and a life of eating substitute/fake foods is really unappealing to me. This is why "diets" fail, it is a lifestyle choice/change you are looking for but one you can adapt to the rest of your life.

The other options (I have eliminated any liquid supplemental diets and diets that provide the food because the "foodie" in me could not sustain that) I have considered were:

1...Jillian Michaels - She is the trainer from Biggest Loser. This is a little intense, a little invasive with constant annoying e-mails, a food plan that is not especially creative, and exercises that are definitely high impact which is hard for me. I can substitute, but it throws off the plan. The biggest pet peeve I have with this program is the constant, "upgrade" suggestions and constant "buy this" suggestions. You feel like you may have signed on with a carnival barker! The results are impressive and fairly quick, but I am not sure that level of intensity can be maintained.

2...The South Beach Diet has a lovely menu/recipe suggestions and allows for some interpretation from an imaginative cook. There are no meetings that you have to sit through, no weigh-ins, and although being accountable is important, the meetings always have members who are ahead of you or behind you and someone is getting dragged down. It gets old. This plan makes you accountable to yourself. It is also a plan you can live with and a life style change that is palatable. But above all else it is beautiful in its simplicity without being austere and it is not fat free! It is a nutritional program that can be both indulgent and slimming, and that is proven. But again, they struck a chord with my pet peeve and lived up to carnival barker standards when you went online to look at support tools. These people don't know when to stop! You get the feeling you are just a mark using their online tools. I have to give kudos to Weight Watchers in this regard because their website doesn't do that.

3...Weight Watchers Online! No meetings, you weigh yourself and use online tools only. This is familiar to me, I would still track points, measure, weigh, etc. I could eliminate the meetings. There is a lot of support online, no side show barking, but still a lot of crutches, a lot of administrivia and I am wondering if I need to be more independent, move beyond these "crutches" grow up and adopt the lifestyle now, make it an unconscious choice.

These were the three contenders for me. The problem is that I know statistically those who follow WW and attend meetings, and use online tools have a higher rate of success. I just am ready to shed the gizmos, crutches, blah blah blah that are designed to reassure you that you are not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of fat ass compadres out there struggling and succeeding because they not only buy into the concept but they continue to buy in and pay and pay and pay.

Funny thing is I didn't pay anyone to get out of shape, so if I agree to change the way I do things I should be able to figure this out without paying anyone...except perhaps my gym, which is ongoing anyway. Bottom line, whatever you decide on is something you have to do ...you know, like just do the damn thing...for success both short term and long term, so it has to be something you like, enjoy and can live with...sorta like a marriage.

I think for now, I may stop blogging about this, and just do it! We'll revisit this at some point in the future. Wish me luck!

1 comment:

  1. Coupla Food Industry PR gals I know are now on WW. The night before first weigh in, they gorged on Chinese dumplings: http://dianatakesabite.blogspot.com/2010/06/kingburg-kitchen-dumplings-worth-hour.html . It was completely nuts! I can't do it for sure. So lunch will be 6oz of Greek yogurt for the next 2 weeks.

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